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Instant Adventure

04.06.2012, Anna Hazard

Next month I will be traveling to Europe for the first time in ten years. While I frantically plan what I should wear for two weeks in Paris, I cannot let myself forget two vital items: a travel journal and a camera. For many years and for many countries I have always brought a small journal with me to records details of each day. I usually end up stuffing receipts of delicious meals, business cards and sometimes a pressed flower in the pages. Reading those journals can immediately transport me to a beach, and I suddenly feel as calm as I did when I was lying in the sand.

For this trip around Europe, where I will be traveling from Dublin, to Amsterdam, to Brussels and then finishing the trip in Paris, a place I have always dreamed of going to, I have decided to vamp up my usual travel journal with a few new items. Last month MOPA Store started carrying an adorable Photo Journal by Magmacolor ($ 16.95). It is a medium sized orange book , with an elastic band to keep it closed. Inside there are illustrations of vintage cameras intertwined with places to write location, date, comments, shutter speed, ISO and film stock. In the back of the book are sticky corners to easily add photos to the pages. This wonderful journal brought me straight to the other side of the store where FUJIFILM’s Instax Mini ($119.99) was sitting. Fuji’s own version of a smaller polaroid camera will allow me to take photos of all the food I will be eating, art I will be seeing, and the beautiful sights I’ll be taking in. Instead of waiting for the end of the trip to develop or print my pictures and then add them to the journal, I can do it immediately! This idea excites me to think I will be able to document everything instantaneously instead of later in the night, or even when I am back in the states. Both items are small, and light enough to be carried in my purse, while also chic enough that I won’t look like a complete American tourist. Double bonus!

I cannot wait to document my trip with the Photo Journal and Instax Mini. I hope you have the opportunity to do the same!